


Some Good Advice

by Nerd_Peridot



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 18:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17209013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerd_Peridot/pseuds/Nerd_Peridot
Summary: After accidentally discovering Peridot's attraction to Amethyst, Pearl becomes involved in helping the two of them figure out their feelings... whether she wants to or not.





	Some Good Advice

**Author's Note:**

> Some background: This takes place in a hypothetical, not-too-distant future after the diamond drama is done and the Crystal Gems are one big happy team. Hope you enjoy!

Twenty-four.

There were twenty-four patches on the quilt Pearl was lying on. Sixteen wooden beams stretched across the ceiling of the beach house. Fourteen books rested on the shelves in Steven’s room.

And Pearl had had exactly zero minutes of sleep.

Huffing in exasperation, she screwed her eyes shut tight and commanded herself in a whisper: “And sleeeeep—now!” She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and tried again. “Sleep NOW!”

Still nothing.

With a groan, she lifted her head and surveyed the room. No one else was having trouble succumbing to the fatigue of the day. At least not that she could tell, anyway. Steven was snug in his bed. Garnet dozed on the floor on one side of his bed, and Lapis lay on the other side.

To think that less than two years ago, they had worked themselves to the point of exhaustion trying to find Lapis. Now here she was, an attendee of the second-ever Crystal Gem slumber party! And yet, even though today they all were just as exhausted from weeks of work as they were back then, slumber somehow eluded Pearl.

Suddenly, Pearl noticed a flickering green light coming from the lower level of the house. Something was making noise down there, too.

She scowled. ‘ _Amethyst, how rude can you be, watching TV while everyone else is trying to sleep!’_ she thought to herself irritably. She quietly launched herself to her feet and tiptoed down the stairs.

Amethyst was watching something alright, but it wasn’t TV. From a nest of blankets on the couch, Peridot lay peacefully sleeping, which would have been generally unremarkable except for the beam of light emanating from her gem. It was projecting an image mid-air of the Crystal Gems, their muffled voices still audible over Peridot’s snoring. Apparently, they were all… canoeing? Each wearing Camp Pining Hearts uniforms, they paddled in the ocean just outside the temple. Strangely, the cluttered, pyramid-filled skyline of Homeworld was also visible in the background. Dream Peridot called out directions and encouragement over a megaphone to each pair of canoers.

From her spot on the real beach house floor, Amethyst lay with her chin in her hand watching the projection, eyes sparkling with amusement. Pearl gingerly stepped around a slumbering Bismuth and kneeled next to Amethyst.

“Is that—her _dreaming_?” Pearl whispered to her.

“Yep!” she whispered back.

“I didn’t know it was possible to project dreams like that.”

Amethyst gave a wicked grin. “Heh, not everyone can. Just the ones with gems in their foreheads.”

“Ohhh.” Then it hit her. “Wait, WHAT?” she squawked a little too loudly.

Amethyst shushed her. Pearl might have pressed on into a lecture about privacy and how someone should have _told_ her about this, but she was interrupted by a shout coming from Peridot’s dream. And things had suddenly become irresistibly attention-grabbing.

A giant yellow octopus with vampire fangs had risen from the ocean, shrieking and swinging its tentacles at the group. They frantically paddled towards the shore in terror.

 _“Hurry, campers, HURRY!”_ Peridot shouted into the megaphone.

From the back of Peridot’s canoe, Lapis rose to her feet. _“I can’t do this again!”_ Unfurling her watery wings, she flew out of view in an instant.

 _“Wait, don’t go!”_ Peridot shouted. _“We—"_ Before she could continue, another voice rang out.

 _“Peridot, help!”_ Amethyst yelled from a nearby canoe. The octopus was making its way towards her and Pearl. In a combative stance, Pearl swung her paddle defiantly at the monster.

Peridot reached out to Amethyst. _“Grab my hand!”_ At the last moment, just before the octopus thrashed Amethyst’s canoe, she grasped her and pulled her away. With a mighty roar, the monster wrapped a tentacle around Pearl’s waist and dragged her beneath the frothy waves. To add insult to injury, Dream Pearl started singing a melancholy song about being eaten, the melody burbling up from under the water.

Yawning, the real Amethyst gave Pearl’s knee a gentle bump with her knuckles. “Mmm, tough break, P,” she teased. Her smirk faded as she looked back at Peridot’s dream. She pushed herself up from the floor, her back stiffening. “Holy smokes.”

Pearl turned back to see that the scene had changed. Peridot and Amethyst had escaped the octopus and made it to dry land. But, instead of the beach, the two had somehow ended up in the grass in front of Peridot and Lapis’ old barn out in the country. It looked perfectly intact, just like it did back when they were working on the drill.

In the aftermath of tumbling to safety, Peridot had landed on top of Amethyst, straddling her. Amethyst’s voluminous hair fell away from her face, fanning out all around her, except for one runaway lock of lavender across her forehead. Their eyes were shining, locked in an intense gaze. Just when Pearl thought they would get up, the quiet moment went on for a beat more.

Then another.

And another.

Finally, Dream Amethyst spoke. _“This was a weird moment, huh?”_

Peridot opened her mouth as if to speak, then merely nodded. They still hadn’t torn their eyes from each other.

_“Do you ever think about this? What it might have meant?”_

Biting her lip now, Peridot looked uncomfortable, but she answered, _“Yes. Um, a lot, actually.”_

_“So, what’s the verdict, P-dot?”_

Peridot took a deep, shaky breath. _“It’s still hard to put my finger on it. It’s hard to explain. When this happened, I felt… something. I didn’t understand what. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had never been this physically close to any other gem before. Or maybe I was just taken aback with the realization that a defective gem could look so… beautiful.”_

She paused, tilting her head. With an unexpected tenderness in her voice, she continued, _“My stars, you really did look beautiful like that.”_ Peridot raised her hand to gently brush away the lock of hair from Amethyst’s face. Her fingers continued the path, tracing down the side of her face to cradle Amethyst’s round cheek. Amethyst’s eyes fluttered closed, and she gave a lazy, contented smile.

Back in the beach house, Pearl shifted uncomfortably. “We really shouldn’t be watching this.”

Amethyst gave a quick “shh!” There was something so serious about the way she did it that made Pearl stay silent. Amethyst was staring at the scene as if spellbound, leaning forward.

Dream Peridot continued, _“Part of me has even wondered if this feeling I had—of being drawn to you—was some sort of calling to fuse with you. I don’t know. I had a lot of feelings happening at this moment, but mostly I think…”_ Peridot swallowed hard and whispered, _“I think I wanted to kiss you before I even knew what kissing was.”_

Back in the real world, Amethyst gasped, but Dream Amethyst just gave a knowing smile. She turned her head to lay a slow, featherlight kiss in Peridot’s palm. Peridot inhaled sharply at the touch. _“So do it, then.”_

And with zero hesitation, Dream Peridot did just that, leaning in and capturing her lips. There was a hunger to their kiss, as they wrapped their arms tight around each other, and Dream Amethyst let out a satisfied hum.

Pearl was on her feet in seconds. “NO! No, no no no!” she whispered emphatically. They shouldn’t have let this go on as long as it had anyway, but damned if she was going to risk Steven being exposed to this kind of scene! As she rushed to grab a blanket, she nearly tripped over Amethyst, whose eyes were wide as saucers.

Her intention was to block the projection by laying the blanket over Peridot’s gemstone, not to wake her up, but as she stirred awake, Pearl wasn’t entirely sorry to see her eyes creak open and the green light of the projection flicker out. “Wha-huh… Pearl?” she said grouchily.

“Oh, excuse me, Peridot, I—uh—” She floundered for an explanation that wouldn’t involve her having to say exactly what she and Amethyst had seen.

 With bleary, half-lidded eyes, Peridot slurred, “Trying to sleep. Need quiet.”

“I know, my apologies.”

Peridot yawned, her eyes closing again. “And your singing stinks. Nothing rhymes with octopus.”

Pearl’s lip twitched, ready to give a rebuttal, but given the situation, she decided it was best to respond with a simple, “Okay.”

As Peridot’s snoring started up again, Pearl looked back where Amethyst was, only to find her spot empty. The screen door creaked closed, and she could see a mass of lilac hair outside fly past the window. With a sigh, she turned to follow her. After all, there was no point trying any further to sleep tonight anyway.


End file.
